Rosie O'Donnell appeared on the "Today" show Monday morning to promote her variety show, which airs on NBC Wednesday night, but she couldn't get out of talking about "The View" and her resurgent feud with Barbara Walters.
Interviewed by fellow "View" alumna Meredith Vieira — who joked to Rosie, "It's now your turn to save this network" — O'Donnell explained that she loves and cares about Barbara Walters and is sorry to have hurt her.
"The fact that I hurt her is what hurts me," O'Donnell said. "She is one of the women who paved the way for every other woman on television and in broadcasting, and I love her, regardless of the fact that to her, I'm the rowdy teenage daughter that she can't control."
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O'Donnell told reporters last week that Walters misrepresents the off-camera camaraderie among the co-hosts of "The View," and Walters responded harshly on the program the following morning — despite, as Rosie revealed on "Today," an apology e-mail Rosie fired off as soon as the news of their feud broke.
"I sent her a letter the night it came out, before she went on 'The View,'" Rosie said. "I wrote her an email, saying 'I'm sorry it keeps coming up like this, I do the best I can, have a great turkey. [Their shared publicist Cindi Berger] was on the phone, she can get you the transcripts. I love you. Love, Rosie.'
"I do love her, and that's the bottom line: love is complicated," Rosie said.
As for the variety show, Rosie promises "an hour where you can escape the troubles of the world" with her all-star lineup of Liza Minelli, Alanis Morisette, Ne-Yo, and Gloria Estefan.